kennedy begins right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com in the average man's life there are two or three emotional experiences burned into his heart and his brain. and no matter what happens to me i will remember november the 22nd as long as i live. >> there has been an attempt on the life of president kennedy. >> they are combing the floors of the texas depository building to find the assassin. [ gunshots ]. >> oswald has been shot at point blank range fired into the stomach. >> police are working to the assumption oswald's murder was to shut him up. >> the element of a simple intelligence agency killed john kennedy. >> the story has been suppressed. witnesses have been killed.

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in dallas, preparations were already underway for extraordinary police protection when the president should arrive. you anticipate any trouble on the president's arrival? >> because of what has happened here previously, we would be foolish i think not to anticipate some trouble. i don't, really, i don't anticipate any violence. ♪ >> here comes air force number one, the president's plane now touching down. there is mrs. kennedy, and the crowd yells and the president of the united states. i can see his suntan all the way from here. >> looking at how things actually went, it wasn't just a trip to dallas. it was a political trip preparing for the 1964 elections. >> shaking hands now with the dallas people, governor and mrs. conley.

governor conley on your left. >> it was whether kennedy could use his charisma and influence to get all the squabbling democrats in texas to come together before the election the next year. >> and here comes the president now, in fact, he's not in his limousine. he's departed the limousine and is reaching across the fence shaking hands. >> in those days everybody could get a lot closer to the president. i was standing behind mrs. kennedy and saw a hand reach through the chain link fence and break off one of the red roses. >> thousands of children swarming, trying to get over the fence. the dallas police trying to keep them back. this is great for the people and makes the egg shells thinner for the secret service. whose job it is to guard the man. >> the trip had gone terrifically well in texas. pretty hard to write a script for it going any better. >> thousands will be on hand for that motorcade now, which will be downtown dallas. >> a number of my classmates were gone. they were at the parade.

my father had been invited to have lunch with kennedy at the trade center. there was a mood, a climate of excitement. >> the speech of president kennedy at the dallas trade mart will be broadcast. stay tuned for the president's speech at the trade mart on 570 radio. ♪ ♪ big bossman won't you help me when i call ♪ ♪ big bossman won't you help me when i call ♪ ♪ well you ain't so big you just tall and that's all ♪

>> this bulletin just into the kilt news terminal. dallas police, shots were fired at the motorcade of president kennedy in downtown dallas. >> police radios are carrying that the president has been hit. >> parkland hospital has been advised to stand by for a severe gunshot wound. >> this is walter cronkite in the newsroom and there has been an attempt on the life of president kennedy. >> turn the mic on. i can't hear you, johnny. you want me to move back a little bit? is it all right now? is this all right? ladies and gentlemen, i would like to introduce the chief camera man and assistant news director of wfaa television. this is burt ship. burt, we brought the people pretty much up to date. would you tell them exactly what you know as of this point? >> jay, i was standing at the trade mart waiting his arrival

there. all of a sudden, we saw them approaching. they didn't slow down, matter of fact they were going 70, 80 miles an hour past us and i jumped in the police car and went to parkland. these two men came running in, one of them had a large -- appeared to be a machine gun and they were hollers for stretchers and cots and everything. the governor went in first. >> what happened after this? >> the president come in behind him and they took them, both of them back. >> albert thomas, democratic texas is standing outside the corridor of the emergency room, said he's been told the president was still alive but in very critical condition. >> the president has not arrived here. a group of secret servicemen and other officials has gathered where the president normally would enter and discussing heated with one another some subject or other. of course we have no idea what.

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a gentlemen just walked in our studio that i'm meeting for the first time as well as you.

this is wfaa tv in dallas, texas. may i have your name, sir. >> mr. zaputta. >> zaputta? >> yes, sir. >> tell us your story, sir? >> i got out a half hour earlier to get in a good spot to take some pictures. >> 5-year-old boy and myself were on the grass there and joe waved and i waved and -- >> it's all right, sir. go ahead. >> he was waving back. he was -- the shot rang out and he slumped down in the seat. >> all of a sudden, this next one popped and governor connally grabbed his stomach and kind of laid over to the side. and another one and president kennedy reached up and looked like he grabbed his ear and blood just started gushing out. >> i didn't see any person fire the weapon. >> you only heard it? >> i only heard it and looked up and saw a man running up this hill. >> if it's a conspiracy, not only the president was hit, the

governor was hit, who knows if the next shot would have been for lyndon johnson. johnson's car pulls into the emergency bay at parkland hospital. four agents reach in and grab johnson and pull him out and start to run him down one corridor looking for a safe place. >> mr. johnson's whereabouts are being kept secret for security reasons. if anybody knows where mr. johnson is, it is not us at this moment. >> there was a signal moment in our cultural history. suddenly it occurred the right thing to do is turn on television. >> the reports continue to come in, but in a confused fashion. >> president kennedy has been given a blood transfusion at parkland hospital in an effort to save his life. >> it was odd. there were no commercials, just a continuing experience.

>> two priests have entered the emergency room at parkland hospital where he rests after the assassination attempt which was about a half hour ago. >> what are your feelings right now, ma'am? >> i'm absolutely shocked. stunned. we have the same birthday and i'm just crazy about him. >> who would want to shoot the president? did he do? he's been doing so much for the country and somebody shoots him? >> a flash from dallas. two priests who were with president kennedy say he is dead. >> bullet wounds, this is the latest information we have from dallas. i will repeat with the greatest regret two priests who were with president kennedy say he has died of bullet wounds. >> malcolm, the assistant press secretary was filling in for the regular press secretary and then he had to draw himself up to

give the most fateful announcement that a press secretary might have ever had to give. >> all the cameras were rolling and i remember he put his fingers like this on the desk and pressed very hard to stop his hands trembling. >> john f. kennedy died at approximately 1:00 central standard time today here in dallas. he died of a gunshot wound in the brain. i have no other details regarding the assassination of the president. >> the people standing here are stunned just as all of us are beyond belief, but the president of the united states is dead.

>> all over the world, people are going to remember all their lives what they were doing when they first heard that president kennedy had been killed. >> the crowds are standing around in silence and sorrow in the rain and the strange thing, you don't even notice it's raining, and if you do notice, you don't care and you can't believe it. >> i feel like someone in my own family is dead. i just can't believe it. >> ma'am? >> i can't -- >> like a daze. you don't know what's going on. why? why did it happen? who would have done such a thing is the question? >> in the first minutes and hours chaos and confusion was radiating out from the scene itself. it was very pervasive. >> secret service agents thought

the gunfire was from an automatic weapon fired possibly from a grassy knoll. >> i saw police run, i thought they are chasing a gunman, i followed them. >> the attempted assassins, we heard it is a man and woman. >> i got to the top, looked around and a policeman went of the fence. i went over the fence, too. there was nothing there. >> the television news man said he looked up after the shot was fired and saw a rifle being withdrawn from a fifth or sixth floor window. >> there was originally thought the shots came from in here and now it's believed that the shots came from this building here. >> police officers running back towards the texas depository building. they will continue searching in that building for the would be assassin of the president. >> the center of downtown dallas is at a virtual state of seeing. they are combing the floors to find the suspected assassin. >> the building on the sixth floor we found an area near a window that had partially been

blocked off by boxes of books and also, the three spent shells that had apparently been fired from a rifle. >> lieutenant j.c. dade came out of the building with a british 303 rifle. >> it was a 7.65 mouzer. >> a high powered army or japanese rifle of . .25 caliber. >> a 30/30 rifle. >> much of the first things you hear are going to be wrong. and to some degree, you are constantly trying to separate out what seem to be a fact. >> in dallas, a dallas policeman just a short while ago was shot. and killed while chasing a suspect. >> j.d.tippett, a good experienced police officer was shot three times in the chest. then the manager of a shoe store saw the suspect walk into the

texas theater. >> someone has been arrested in one of the downtown theaters. they don't know if it was the man who shot the policeman or the person who actually shot president kennedy. >> police jumped this man and tried to drag him out of theater. grabbed this man trying to run with him. they shouted murder and the officers hustled him into the car and ran away just as fast as they could. as we mentioned a short while ago, a number of arrests have been made in dallas in the wake of president kennedy's death. we have scenes of one of those arrests in the downtown area. this was just after a dallas policeman was shot in the vicinity of a downtown movie house. >> bently. >> paul bentley. >> how did you approached him? >> as he approached him, the man hit mcdonald in the face with his left hand and reached for the pistol with his right hand and as he reached for his pistol, i grabbed him with two

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zaprud he probably does not look exactly like this now after he's been questioned. that's lee oswald. >> the president is shot and a police officer is shot, then someone name lee harvey oswald is arrested. oswald may be a suspect in the assassination.

who is he? >> lee oswald of a dallas, a former marine that spent some time in russia and applied for soviet citizenship. >> the description that we have of the suspect in ocliff was similar to the description we have as the assassin but at that time we haven't been able to connect the two in any way. >> down there a crowd of camera men, reporters wait for a possible appearance of the man accused of killing president kennedy and a dallas police officer. >> there will be a great deal of confusion, mr. oswald is put through the door. i don't know if you saw him. oswald lives at 1026 meckley. an employee of a book mining firm in the building in which the police and secret servicemen believe the president was shot today. >> mrs. kennedy accompanied the

body in an ambulance from the hospital to the airport where it will be flown back to washington. >> the emergency room at the hospital on the first floor there and they come out and told us that we would have to help remove the remains into a casket. >> lyndon johnson had ordered that the body be brought immediately to air force one so there was a little tug-of-war. it almost shook the crucifix off the top of the coffin as they were trying to get that coffin out of the hospital. >> took him out and put him into the herself -- hearse and one of the secret servicemen, well, about two or three of them got into the hearse and drove off and mr. o'neil and the rest of us were just standing there. >> vice president johnson is

expected to be sworn in as president aboard an airliner before flying back to the nation's capitol. >> not everyone realized johnson was the president because he in fact had taken the oesz in -- oath in january '61, the same oath the president takes. >> johnson wanted to show the american people that the government was functioning without interruption. also, perhaps, he wanted to show that his predecessor's family bore him no ill will for the assassination. >> lyndon baynes johnson is flying back to washington to take the reins of government at which time president johnson will have to take into his hands the reins of the most powerful nation in the world. >> we think november 22nd, 1963 as a date when a president was killed. but it was also a day when the president was created. >> is there any doubt in your

mind chief that oswald is the man who killed the president? >> i think this is the man that killed the president, yes, sir. >> is there any evidence any one else may have been linked with oswald in this shooting. >> at this time we don't believe so. >> i don't know what this is all about. >> sir? >> did you kill the president? >> did you shoot the president? >> i work in that building. >> were you in the building at the time? >> naturally if i work in that building, yes, sir. >> back up, ma'am. >> taken in because of the fact that i lived in the -- >> i'm just a patsy. >> did you shoot the president? >> this is room 317, homicide bureau here at the dallas police station. as you see, they are bringing the weapon allegedly used in the assassination of president john f. kennedy this afternoon at 12:30 here in dallas.

>> 6.5 made in italy in 1940. >> police have traced a rifle purchased in chicago by mail order to oswald. he bought it under the alias, a.heidel. a handwriting expert has confirmed that the purchase was made by oswald. the price of $12.78, the life of the president of the united states apparently was bought. >> in the wake of the kennedy assassination, the dallas police on the one hand were committing all of their resources to try to solve a crime. >> move in the doorway, get him in the doorway. >> there they had -- they were ill equipped to handle this tsunami of reporters. >> well, i was questioned by a judge. however, i protested at that time that i was not allowed legal representation.

>> in bringing oswald out, they were of course doing something that you would never see happen today, but they were trying to cooperate with the press, with the understanding that there would not be questions shouted at him. >> did you kill the president? >> no, i have not been charged with that. in fact, nobody has said that to me yet. the first thing i heard about it was when the newspaper reporters in the hall asked me that question. >> you have been charged. >> sir? >> you have been charged? >> nobody said what? >> okay. >> oswald. >> what did you do in russia? >> how did you hurt your eye? >> a policeman hit me. >> at 1:35 this morning, a complaint was read. it charged that quote, lee harvey oswald did voluntarily and with malice aforethought kill john f. kennedy by shooting him with a gun end quote following the reading of the

complaint, oswald said, that's ridiculous. >> within hours of the assassination, it was very obvious to virtually everyone in the dallas law enforcement that oswald had killed kennedy. >> chief, can you tell us in summery what directly links oswald to the killing of the president? >> well, the fact that he was on the floor where the shots were fired from immediately before the shots were fired. the fact he was seen carrying a package to the building, the fact that -- >> what was in there. >> yesterday morning. >> after the shooting in dealey plaza, oswald was the only employee of the book dpoz tour that fled the building. 45 minutes later he kills the officer and he resisted arrest by pulling a gun on an officer. >> doors just opened. >> during 12 hours of interrogation by the dallas police department over the

weekend, he told one provable lie after another. >> did you buy that rifle? >> that's the facts you people have been given but i deny the charges. >> within a day or so thereafter when they discovered what a complete nut this guy was, they were satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that oswald had acted alone. >> only one thing i can tell you without going into the evidence that this case is cinched. this man killed the president. there are no question in my mind about it. >> we plan to transfer this man, not tonight, he will be here by no later than 10:00 in the morning. why, it will -- that will be early enough for you. >> chief, do you have any concern for the safety of your prisoner in view of the high feeling of the people in dallas over the assassination of the president? >> no but cautions will be taken, of course, but i don't think that the people will try

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all right. let's move. >> lee oswald is to be taken soon to the county jail. >> that's true. >> and you are going to take him there how, sir? >> we are going to use an

armored motor vehicle to take him. >> dallas police meant to transfer lee into the regular prison during the night to avoid the press, and then someone must have over ruled them so that lee could be photographed by the press during the transfer. >> standing by waiting the transfer of oswald from city jail to county jail, and for that report, here is abc's bill lord at the city jail. bill, what is the situation? >> i'm presently in the basement of the dallas municipal building and it's like an armed camp. police officials are frankly worried. they don't want anything to happen to oswald. >> through this corridor of

newsmen, photographers that oswald will be brought to a vehicle for transfer to the dallas county jail, a distance of about 15 blocks, which is ironically just across from the scene where president kennedy was asays nated on friday. >> anticipation has built up here in downtown dallas in front of the county jail. they are waiting for a glimpse of lee oswald. >> there he is. here he comes. >> the prisoner. >> let me have it. i want it. >> being led out by captain fritz. >> there is lee. he's been shot. he's been shot. lee oswald has been shot. there is a man with a gun. it's absolute panic. absolute panic in the basement of the dallas police headquarters. detectives have their guns drawn. there is no question about it. oswald has been shot at point blank range fired into his stomach.

>> he's shot. he is shot. oswald -- >> is it oswald. >> the man that shot the man? or do you know? >> that's the man. >> immediately after the shooting, our only witnesses that we could talk to were other reporters. >> where did he go pierre? >> he was here. they just put their gun there. i saw the flash on the black sweater. >> did you see the gun to his stomach? >> i saw right here. >> he was in the group of men right here. >> masquerading as one of us? >> i thought it was one of the detective. he had a hat. >> the situation is now that lee harold oswald has been shot. the man that saw the shot fired said it was fired by a man wearing a black hat, a brown coat, a man that everyone down here thought was a secret service agent. we can hear sirens outside and ambulance apparently is moving down now into the basement.

here comes the ambulance. and oswald will be removed now. the ambulance is being pulled up in front of us here. here comes oswald, he's -- he is ashen and unconscious at this time, now being moved in. he is not moving. he's in the ambulance now. and ten didn't -- attendants, police are quickly moving in. the ambulance is leaving dallas police headquarters. where will he be taken? >> i'm assuming parkland hospital. >> parkland hospital. ironies of ironies, the place where john f. kennedy died. >> i believe the man -- >> don't take the microphone. keep your head up. let's start again. what is your reaction to the shooting of oswald? >> well, i think it's a deplorable situation.

the man is entitled to a fair trial. >> they should give him a fair trial. because killing him just like that ain't nothing because that ain't going to bring president kennedy back to life. and after you get him a trial you should let him out on the street and let the people kill him. >> they should not only shoot him but cut him up in pieces. >> put him everywhere in the fryer and set it up for a next day and the next day start again. >> thank you. >> the man that i believe i didn't see it. i think it's the man. >> you got him? does he look like? >> i can't give you a description now. he is known locally. >> immediately after the ambulance left, somehow i begun to suspect that maybe the shooter was someone who was known to the police. >> do you know this subject? do you know him? have you seen him before? >> yes, i do. >> is he from dallas? >> yes. >> he is? >> i couldn't tell you. >> do you know what kind of

business he happens to be? >> bob, i wouldn't want to say. >> right. >> dallas city hall is normally a public building, but today it was really under armed guard. >> we -- is this a confirmed report as to who did the shooting? >> as far as i know. i just got it from robertson. >> vick robertson from city hall reports that jack ruby, the owner of the carousal, which is a bar in dallas, did the shooting. >> my statement will be very brief. oswald expired at 1:07 p.m. >> he died? >> he died at 1:07 p.m. we have arrested the man. the man will be charged with murder.

>> who is he? >> the man -- the suspect's name is jack rubenstein, i believe. he goes by the name of jack ruby. >> here at associated press, a still picture of the moment, the splint second as the shot was fired. this is the man dallas police have identified adds as jack rubenstein, and this is of course lee harvey oswald. you see the gun in the hand of ruby and just about to be fired. >> i know my own feelings were and i think they were assured by many, if not most americans. this can't be coincidental. the assassin is assassinated at the police station. what in the hell is going on? >> just learned from city hall from an authoritative source, police are working on an assumption that there indeed is

a connection between jack ruby and lee oswald and in that some manner of speaking, oswald's murder was to shut him up. >> captain just told me ruby said he did it, that it was his gun, and that he had build up a tremendous grievance over the death of the president. >> in jack ruby's mind he thought he was going to become a big, big hero. he killed the guy who killed the president. >> i commend what he did. i think he ought to win the congressional medal of honor for it and a lot of other good american citizens think he did exactly the right thing in shooting down this communist. >> word in from dallas, that homicide chief captain will fritz has now said that the case of president kennedy's assassination is now closed with the death of oswald. it may not be the opinion of the secret service or the federal bureau row of investigation. of .

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the whole world is poorer because of his loss. but we can all be better americans because john fitzgerald kennedy has passed our way. because he has been our chosen leader at a time in history when his character, his vision and his quiet courage have enabled him to chart a course for us, a safe course for us through shoals of treasure rouse -- treacherous seas that encompass the world. and now that he is relieved of the almost superhuman burden we imposed on him, may he rest in peace. ♪ dallas today had even more to mourn.

it held funeral services for one of its own, who was a victim of friday's tragedy. officer j.d. tippit. >> it was a funeral of a very different sort today in nearby fort worth. >> the funeral of lee harvey oswald, the alleged murderer of john f. kennedy. the mourners included his mother, maurg reet, his wife marina, his brother robert, and oswald's two children, one of them a babe in arms. the six pallbearers were news men. there were not enough relatives or friends on hand to serve as pallbearers. >> now there is a new flag of the president of the united states flying in the white house. in president kennedy's old oval

office, mrs. evelyn lincoln, his secretary and aids removed every scrap, every vest individual of the signs of the personal touches of president kennedy. >> we know from history that one test of society is how do they handle the transfer of power at the top? lyndon johnson, whatever you thought of him, a lot of people disliked him greatly, some hated him would be the president of the united states. i think it shouted about the strength of the country and the we swear by the root of law. >> the president of the united states. [ applause ] >> my fellow americans, all i

have, i would have given gladly not to be standing here today. >> johnson knows he has to show the country that the ship of state is sailing on under the new captain. but at the same time, he can't appear to be too anxious to assume power. and he has to keep the kennedy people on board with him. so that speech means everything. >> no words are strong enough to express our determination to continue the forward thrust of america that he began. [ applause ] >> the people of europe just cannot believe that a lone

avenger made his way into a major police station and killed without difficulty the most celebrated and infamous criminal in the united states. >> one of the most important things that happened after oswald's murder was that we were forever denied the why. i mean, people at the time believed he did it. the question was why. >> there are questions continually coming up about the possibility of an international plot. >> there is still all this thought that the russians might be behind it or cuba might be behind it. johnson sees the real danger in that. you want to put these rumors to rest. >> investigations into all the facts of these last four days may not be limited to the state of texas or the fbi. some congressmen already have suggested a congressional investigation. >> killing a president wasn't a federal crime at the time. so you had the federal government intervening in still

what was a local murder. there certainly was a concern of competing investigations. there was the dallas criminal investigation, there was the state of texas court of inquiry, and there were committees on both sides of congress while of course the fbi had been given the job to conduct the full-scale investigation. >> johnson realizes something has to be done. he realizes that he has to appoint a body that the public will respect to look into this. >> yes, mr. president. >> i've got to have a top blue ribbon presidential commission to investigate this assassination. i want to ask -- and chief justin warren as chairman. >> one justice universally respected for his integrity is the chief justice of the supreme court, earl warren. if there's one person in congress that everyone respects it's richard russell of georgia. he has to get them both on the commission.

there is, however, a problem. russell is a segregationist through and through and despises warren for the decisions that he's made on the court. >> johnson thought if they can agree on a verdict, that ought to be satisfying 90% of american public opinion. >> going to direct you to 911. >> i'm highly honored you'd think about me in connect with it but i couldn't serve with chief justice warren. i don't like that man. >> you can't can serve with anybody for the good of america and you're going to do it. i can arrest you and i'm not going to put the fbi on you. but you're [ mute ] going to serve i'll tell you that. >> lyndon johnson was known as the greatest salesman one-on-one who ever lived. so he meets first with warren and says, if i asked you to put on your uniform and fight for america you'd do it. i'm asking you to fight for

america in a different way. then johnson has to get richard russell. >> mr. president, please now. >> no, it's already done. it's been announced. >> you mean you've -- >> yes, sir, the announcement. it's already in the papers. you're on it. >> i think you did wrong getting warren. i know damn well you did wrong getting me. i'll do the best you can. >> that's what you do. that's the kind of american boesds -- both of you are. red . combinations of your favorite seafood from lobster to crab, shrimp and mussels in a savory broth. try one today, and sea food differently. get a coupon at redlobster.com for 10 dollars off any two seafood bakes, crab or lobster entrees. get a coupon at redlobster.com for 10 dollars off i always wanted to design a bike that honored those who serve our country. and geico gave me that opportunity. now naturally, we wanted it to be powerful, innovative and we built this bike as a tribute to those who are serving, those who have served and their families.

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>> produced by nbc news which is solely responsible for its content. >> the warren commission appointed friday night will investigate and make a report on the murder. as yet it has said nothing about how it will proceed or when. in the meantime, again, the fbi is investigating every lead it can find and will turn its report over to president johnson probably this week. >> it was the fbi's hope that its report would be if not the final word, the semifinal word, and that the commission's job would be to read it and then essentially endorse the findings of the report. >> the members of the warren commission, earl warren, john sherman cooper, jerry ford, allan does, hale boggs, richard russell and john j. mccloy realized at their initial meeting they had to do an independent investigation. they didn't want to be a stamp

for the fbi or the secret service. >> there are three issues the commission had to grapple with. did oswald commit the physical act of the murder? and even if he did the physical act, did he have forces behind him? and then of course, what's ruby's involvement in this? >> you had various branches of the investigation traveling, interviewing witnesses, collecting evidence, bringing it back to the commission. >> the time of day was about -- not very far from two hours from it. >> there were questions how would they deal with the different stories about shooters from the grassy knoll and shooters from different directions. >> the lawyers from the commission took 395 depositions. and there were 94 witnesses that appeared before the commission. linden johnson wants the report

out so that it doesn't interfere with the election a "n" 23406. -- the election in november. because he was a man who had spent his early career as a courtroom prosecutor. he understood a crime scene. he wanted to stand in that this may be a two to three-month operation to the conception that it will probably take six months. >> the hour glass of time was running out on them. >> c s